Sweet Treat Of The Month...
on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Being February and the month of love, something sticky and sweet had to be our pick of the month. Hello homemade Giant Jammy Dodgers! These are actually really easy to make as you just need a solid biscuit recipe, some cute cutters and a jar of your favorite jam. I love these because you can customize the shapes and flavors to each of your besties. Heart shaped strawberry for my mister, star shaped raspberry for my bestie and blueberry OMG ones for a rainy tuesday. Get in!
How To Make Oilcloth (and a cover for your iPod!)
on Monday, February 25, 2013
I've been using oilcloth for various projects for some time now, but sometimes you just can't find a cute enough pattern for what you're wanting to make. Today I thought I would show you how to make some at home using anything you can get your hands on! Whilst you can buy that heat n bond laminate stuff, if you're using vintage material I find the friendlier you treat it, the longer it'll last!
Oilcloth is really easy to make, and once you know how you'll never look back...
All you need to do is soak your material in boiled Linseed Oil and let it dry.
That's it!!
Pour out some boiled linseed oil into a bowl or old tub (oil is a pain to clean remember!), pop on some rubber gloves and submerge the material in it. Let it sit for a couple of minutes to soak in then hang it outside to dry.
This project is very messy so make sure to do it somewhere you can wipe easily incase you get oil drippings everywhere! It will take a long time to dry, but the results are worth the wait (I recommend a couple of days drying time - less if you live in a country with good weather!)
Test the process using a scrap of material first; this will give you an idea of how long it'll take to dry out. It'll also show you if the amber colour of the oil will taint your material. I have had no issues with this, but you never know what can happen if you're using old fabric!
I used an old remnant of this awesome ice-cream material to make a protective case for my iPod. Oilcloth is great for lots of things is it's quite tough and water resistant, so you'll often find it in kitchens, bathrooms and nurseries etc. I've used it for pencil cases and passport cases amongst things as it's really versatile (and I'm messy!)
To make a little sock for your mp3 player, all you need to do is cut out a rectangular piece of material that is double the height of your device and around an inch wider. Add on an extra few centimeters to each and you're ready to go. Once you've cut out your pretty pattern for the outside, use it as a template to cut out some lining. Here I've used a quilting fabric to make sure my ipod is really protected!
Pin the two fabric's together. Do this so the 'right side' of the fabric (the one you want to look at) is facing the 'right side' of the lining material. We're pinning them back to back as we'll be flipping the fabric inside out. That means all the threads and horrible stuff will be tucked away. Perfect!
Using a sewing machine (or your hands if you're patient), stitch all the way around, but leave a small gap of around a couple of inches so you can flip it inside out. Remember to double stitch at the start and finish as you're next step is to tug it all through that little hole and you don't want it to rip! Once you're done, hand stitch the gap closed. Easy!
Your fabric will now be the right way around (both inside and out). Place your ipod on the pretty fabric and pin the sides together so it will slip inside and out of the pouch easily. Using your sewing machine again, stitch the sides together. When you're done, simply flip it inside out and you've made yourself an awesome new little case!
*Ta*Da*
Wasn't that easy! And it's so cute!
Now you can make one for each of your handbags and no one can judge you as they're so cheap to make. Mind, as soon as your besties know you have a talent for making these things you'll probably be getting lots of orders. Make sure you charge a reasonable price for one of your custom handmade accessories ;) hee hee!
I hope you found our Oilcloth and iCase tutorial really helpful! What do you plan to create?
Happy Making!
xox
New Products? You've Gotta Be Kitten Me!
on Friday, February 22, 2013
New products? No kitten ;) We've been working on lots of new goodies for our boutique recently and are really excited to show off some of our new designs...
Where to start? Well, we're now selling new map prints showing the whole of Great Britain for a start. These can be customized to show where you left your heart - ours is in Edinburgh of course! We've also got a couple of new small prints including our little slice of pie - sweet!
Our little bunny rabbit has hopped into the shop just in time for spring :D hee hee
We're loving geometric and scalloped patterns at the moment and created these new cards with favorite colour pallets, 'mermaid' and 'pinto'...
We'd love to hear what you love the most out of our new collection!
Happy Friday xox
Treasured...
on Thursday, February 21, 2013
Pretty Pretty! I've started making treasures on Etsy... and I'm totally addicted. So many amazing items, such little time! I thought I would share my first few lists as I am pretty darn proud of them...
Vintage, pastel colours... and a little bit quirky; that's Vivid Please all over!
I hope you like them!
Follow us on Etsy to get our new lists straight into your activity feed or visit here to see them in all their glory. Don't forget you can hook up with us on pinterest - we'd love to discover some of your awesome finds too!
Oh, and if any of you feel like picking us a present, we're totally cool with that ;) haha!
DIY: How To Make Mountain Jewellery - Inspired By Twin Peaks!
on Monday, February 18, 2013
Lately we've been watching a lot of Twin Peaks here at Vivid HQ; we are big fans of Agent Cooper and that inspiringly weird little town. Every time we watch it we discover something new and it takes on a whole new story. It's just brilliant!
I couldn't resist creating a little DIY in homage to our obsession. How about some Twin Peak rings and brooches? Pretty awesome I'd say. Grab yourself a coffee and a slice of pie - we've got some making to do...
I was given this odd little wooden star ages ago, and I've never really known what to do with it till now. It's been crying out for a diy action and I feel I'm finally ready to make use of it :) You can make these wooden mountains with pretty much any old piece of wood. All you need to do is mark some triangles in pencil and give it a saw...
The project would work best with wood that's not too thick as you don't want it to catch on everything and make your life a pain. Having said that, you can always saw it in half if you have a little patience. Take your time and beware of splinters! This is the trickiest part, but it will be over before you know it. Once you've cut out your mountains, make sure to give them a little sand when your done - no one likes a snagged jumper.
Using your pencil again, mark out where your snow peaks are going to be. Mix up some acrylic paint and go to town on them. It's easier to start with the light snow colour first, then paint in the dark stone. It's much harder to turn a dark colour light than a light colour dark if you make any mistakes.
Lovely!
I've done the front and the sides for now; I'll finish painting the backs once I've glued their fixings on. I decided to add in a few dots of snow for some cliff like detail. Don't be afraid to experiment with yours When you're done painting, allow them to dry completely so they don't get smudged.
To make sure your paint doesn't run in the rain, you'll need to seal it. It would be best to use wood varnish for this, but as I don't have any of that, I'm using Mod Podge. A basic coating of pva glue will protect the art from minor abuse ;)
Once your white glue has dried, you're ready to glue on your backings. You can pick these up in a good craft or jewellery store - failing that Ebay has everything! I'm using a hot glue gun to attach the brooch back and two ring backings. Experiment with some super glue if you don't have one of these.
Once the glue has hardened and the fixings are attached, remember to finish the backings if you haven't already.
*Ta*Da*
What do you think of my new Twin Peaks rings? Pretty cute considering they were but a bit of old wood 40 minutes ago! I adore quirky jewellery so these are right up my street...
For those of you more interested in cardigan candy, they look fabulous pinned on to your lapel too! My little mountain has gotten so many compliments - not many people wear landmarks after all! Plus they're a great conversational piece as everyone has an opinion on that show... So many fans even though it aired in the 90s - just goes to show that a good idea can inspire generations :)
We hope you have a lot of fun working on our little tutorial! We'd love to hear from you if you're addicted to the show too :)
Happy Making!
xox
February Giveaway!
on Thursday, February 14, 2013
Time for a new giveaway? HOORAY!
So far we've had a spectacular February. We made our 200th sale in our Etsy shop and we got our blog featured on the front page of Bloggers.com. We're thrilled that 2013 has made such a great start!
We'd like to share the love and say thanks to all our lovelie friends and followers for your support and couldn't think of a better way to do it than giving you the chance to win yourself a little treat too :)
Up for grabs is one of our adorable new "You Make Me Hoppy" keepsake cards, (the card doubles as a mini print), one of our ginger mustachio brooches and a set of our new "Awesome", "OMG" and "Adorkable" pencils. Lost for words? Not any more!
Our giveaway is super easy to enter and open to absolutely everyone :)
You can even get additional entries for tweeting the competition more than once. The more the merrier we say :B
The competition closes at Midnight on the 28th of February 2013 and the winner of all three prizes will be emailed by March 3rd...
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